IPAD2 very slow after IOS 8 upgrade

I, too, have followed many of the suggestions made here, mostly involving turning off the features added to 8.0.2. I hated that predictive typing and was glad to get rid of that. Also glad to get rid of the screen jerkiness. I still have apps that are crashing, but maybe that's on their end and not Apple's. My ipad2 is still slower than it was, but it is functioning. I have been thinking about getting a new tablet, but now I'm not sure it will be an Apple product. If we can't trust Apple more than other companies, why not go with another product? I love my Samsung Note 3 phone, so maybe I should go with their tablet. At least my calendars will synch then. Thanks to everyone who gave helpful suggestions.

I don't work for Apple, and I obviously can't read this minds, but I can see that it's a complicated problem, full of trade-offs.

Apple wants iOS devices to extremely simple (no IT department or manuals needed), but also wants them to do almost everything a desktop computer can do, along with many things desktops (and even laptops) can't. They need to be thin and light and have superb screens and long battery life, and yet be inexpensive. New iOS versions need to take the best advantage of the exponentially increasing performance on ultra-low-power device technology, and yet not be too slow on older devices.

It's a complicate balance. For example, I would suggest that they need to publish more performance-trade-off information to help us decide whether to upgrade an older device or not, but that violates their goal to make them simple to understand. It's probably fair to say that Apple wants us to upgrade our slower older devices, not only so that they sell more, but also so that they and their app developers have fewer different configurations to support. I'm not saying that I like or agree with that philosophy (I'd certainly prefer not to have to upgrade often), but just that it's complicated to avoid it coming down to that sooner or later. When the new iPads come out, probably toward the end of this month, they will probably have very approximately on the order of 3 times the CPU/GPU power of an iPad2. That's a wide range to have to create a workable product with.

That's an interesting observation, and I've seen the same thing. I thought to myself, "Can this really be happening?" ... but it is. Your device does seem to "adjust" and speed up ... for some reason. It's puzzling to me ... :-) ...

It might be all related to how Apple has designed this new iOS. I just don't know, but it's all good ...

Apple's opinion (and they should know ... :-) ...) is that the iPad 2 is capable of handling the new upgrade to iOS 8. That's the official position of Apple.

Having said that, it doesn't mean that any particular user, no matter what version of iPad they have, will not have some kind of problem. It always happens whenever there is a major upgrade to the iOS. That goes without saying. However, when put in perspective, it's a very very small portion of the installed user base. That doesn't mean that those particular users shouldn't get help, it just means that this sort of thing is inevitable and if you're one of those users, you have several avenues available to you ... to reach a solution.

You have the "users helping other users" forum, which you're on now. And as I've said before, if you don't find a solution here, Apple has direct help from their support page and from the Apple Store.

And, by the way, the iPad 2 is currently being sold by Apple at their online store - TODAY ... and those machines are able to upgrade to the new iOS 8.

If you want to see what kind of performance those iPad 2s that Apple is selling today, are getting, then you can see that for yourself, with iOS 8, by doing a factory default reset, which will put it in the very same condition as those iPad 2s that Apple is selling today. And ... if you have any problem in "that new condition" (and without your data), you can easily take that newly restored iPad 2 and have Apple look at it. They'll check for hardware issues first, of course, because it's possible you may have some. After that, they'll help you with your problem.

As a last note on that factory default setup, be sure to do your backup before doing that reset to factory default condition.

You can do that on a forum that you set up on your own devices, or devices you contract out for, and your own network (or a network you contact out for) and one that you maintain.

That is probably the only place where you will be censored the least. Even then, you will be censored, as the places where you host such a forum and the network pipes all have Terms of Service. You'll never get away from censorship ... anywhere in this world or this lifetime ... :-) ...

One of the reasons I've always recommended that people do a "baseline" for how their iPad 2 is supposed to work, is to clear away all these issues that you are talking about ... and find out exactly how a "factory" iPad 2 actually works and performs. That gives you an idea of "where you should be at" with all your own data and other things added on to it, over a period of time (with some people, over several years of usage).

It actually might not be a bad idea for people to restore to factory default operating condition every six months. That clears out things that may be getting in the way and gives you a new baseline of operation.

Of course, whenever someone does this, they should always do a backup first. Don't forget your backups. But, when you do restore it to a factory default condition, don't add back in your data just yet, and first just check out the operation of your iPad 2.

I am happy to report that after following some of the advice on his topic, i.e. resetting Safari options and clearing caches, going back to basics on the keyboard and a couple of other resettings (Network settings for instance) my device does appear quicker. I have asked my wife to let me know how she gets on with it but so far so good. WeatherPro app still starts up in the wrong format, though, (Landscape). But all the same I find Apple's dialogue on this issue scant, meagre and less than helpful and it will serve as a lesson to me and others in the family in future. Currently looking at a Lenovo for my aged sister rather than an iPad and it comes at half the price. Has anybody told Apple about them?

And just a reminder to "other people" (not you as you already realize this) ... the Terms of Use for these forums is not for a "GRIPE-FEST" but for "users helping other users" in arriving at "solutions" for specific problems they have.

It's not for griping about features or lack of features or griping about Apple policies or griping about one thing or another or making vague and generalized statements about switching to other brands ... LOL ...

So ... everyone ... keep it on track for solutions or "where to go" for solutions (as Apple has excellent Customer Support) ...

If you have a device that is definitely nearing it's "end of life" ... then don't blame Apple for hardware that was made for earlier operating systems. You develop your hardware around what you have "right now" for software and operating system demands. You don't produce hardware (because of cost considerations and unavailable technology advancements) to a future of two or three years away and not even here yet. But when two or three years does finally "get here" ... you'll find that the iOS and the apps are demanding more of the hardware, and it finally does reach the "end of life". The iPad 2 is about there.

That's not Apple's fault, but has been the situation in this industry as technology races ahead and companies race to incorporate all this new technology into their devices. Apple is very good at that. So, with Apple being very good at incorporating more and more advanced technology, that doesn't mean that Apple has nullifed the fact of a product reaching its "end of life". That's always going to happen.

You go and pick up the new iPads, when they come out in a few days ... and you'll be extremely pleased at what it has, versus what is available in the iPad 2 ... :-) ...

Star Traveler wrote:

If you have a device that is definitely nearing it's "end of life" ... then don't blame Apple for hardware that was made for earlier operating systems.

...

You go and pick up the new iPads, when they come out in a few days ... and you'll be extremely pleased at what it has, versus what is available in the iPad 2 ... :-) ...

I Beg to differ here. The developer should not allow an update of their iOS on a device that is not capable. Or, at the least, there should be a warning BEFORE you Are allowed to load the upgrade, in a huge font size... "warning, by agreeing to install this upgrade you accept that there may be serious system degradation". Pretty easy to do... Add in "because there is no going back once committed".

that should resolve the problems.

this week I am in Charleston at a convention, and being the tech guy, I am being hit up by many people with the same problems we are having.

one elderly couple has a matching pair of ipad 3s and I worked with them after they received no joy from the geniuses. By turning off dang near everything from parallax/motion, to Bluetooth, to resetting everything,clearing histories, etc... THEY are running better. But, still not without hesitation and app crashes.

They are at art least able to read the news. For the record, their iPads are bone stock. Zero 3rd part apps, just what came with the iPad.

worked with another guy with an iPad 2, and he has been to apple 3 times.... Same issues as we have. Apple geniuses had not turned off everything and reset everything, or cleared everything. I did so, and he is working better, but it's still unusable. Too many safari crashes.

helped a lady with an iPad mini, she has to take hers into the Genius Bar, it's going to need a reload or something. It crashes simply opening mail or safari now. I can't help her at all, opening settings causes a long delay and finally a crash out of that app. She has no computer to connect it to to restore and I don't have time to help her with a reload.

@Star Traveller - I do exactly that, and not only with my Ipad, but also my Mac Pro which I depend on for very heavy workloads. Full backup, total wipe, restore with upgrade, in the case of the MP actually using a new drive. That has been my habit for many years. In the long run I doubt it takes any more time.

If you click on the link to the discussion and log in, you can click on the "check" button labeled "following," changing it to read "follow." I believe that will take you off the Email lair for this discussion.

@Star Traveler - Downgrading has never been an option before, but that's only because Apple won't admit it's mistakes. And, when my 1st gen iPod touch reached its end of life for upgrades, Apple didn't let people upgrade after iOS 6. This should have been the course that Apple took with iOS 8 and the iPad 2. So you can keep posting about Apple's wonderful iOS 8 and how great it works with the iPad 2, or you can face reality and QUIT POSTING!

davidfrommanteca wrote:

@Star Traveler - Downgrading has never been an option before, but that's only because Apple won't admit it's mistakes. And, when my 1st gen iPod touch reached its end of life for upgrades, Apple didn't let people upgrade after iOS 6. This should have been the course that Apple took with iOS 8 and the iPad 2. So you can keep posting about Apple's wonderful iOS 8 and how great it works with the iPad 2, or you can face reality and QUIT POSTING!

I was going to make the same suggestion to you.

Apple OFFICIALLY says you can run the iOS 8 on iPad 2. Now, that's the official word, no matter what you think about it. And Apple is selling - as of TODAY - iPad 2s and they are upgradeable and operational under iOS 8 ... that's "official" and it's a "fact". That's just the way it is. We deal in facts here and what Apple officially says here.

As to the "opinion" as to why Apple doesn't allow downgrades ... that's simply your opinion (which opinion I doubt anyway) and is not what Apple says.

As for any bugs or fixes that need to be done ... Apple doesn't waste time apologizing ... as the BEST APOLOGY anyone can ever have is simply a "fix". Apple does "fixes" if there needs to be one. Of course, if there is a problem, it has to be analyzed, and that requires users contact Apple Support and report the problem, and then the engineers have to figure out what the necessary fix is. Apple is always doing fixes, and not "apologizing" simply because no one cares about apologies and they only care about "fixes".

And lastly, not everything that "goes wrong" on a particular iOS device is a "fix" that needs to be done by Apple. Don't assume that just because there is a problem with one device or a handful of devices that this is a necessary "fix" that needs to be done. It can be as simple as some of the suggestions here on this "users helping other users" forum ... or it can be as simple as having it checked out at an Apple Store for a hardware failure or some corrupted files and a necessary reset to factory condition.

As far as "Quit Posting" ... well, if that's your opinion ... you might find that my opinion is that we all would be better served if "you" simply quit posting ... :-) ...